For The Order: 1886, perhaps less is more. The action title from Ready at Dawn was announced in 2013, and since then, we’ve had snippets of information about the game here and there. The most I know is this: It… Continue Reading →

For The Order: 1886, perhaps less is more. The action title from Ready at Dawn was announced in 2013, and since then, we’ve had snippets of information about the game here and there. The most I know is this: It takes place in an alternate Victorian era universe, where men still get around by carriage, wear top hots and sport bushy mustaches. They’re battling all sorts of supernatural creatures with the most obvious being werewolves. Other than that it’s hard to pinpoint what the game exactly is.

I got a clearer sense recently when I had a chance to play a short demo and talk with the game’s director Dana Jan. I’ve liked the team’s work since God of War: Chains of Olympus. The studio has a way of telling personal stories that are set amid epic backdrops. They even managed to make Kratos more human instead of the unrelenting rage monster that he evolved into. It’s a talent that few teams have: Ready at Dawn has a deft way of merging gameplay with storytelling and give players other emotions in genres that are usually focused power fantasies.

The game is a third-person shooter that will inevitably draw comparisons to Gears of War.

With The Order: 1886 “Conspiracy” trailer released last month, I got glimpses of that emotional subtlety in the story Ready at Dawn is trying to tell. Better yet, I got a clearer picture when I interview game director Dana Jan and played a snippet of a level. As the trailer hinted at, The Order: 1886 is more of a third-person shooter along the lines of Gears of War.

As Galahad, I was in the middle of a firefighter with allies Igraine, Lafayette and Sir Lucan at my side. We were fighting outside the Palace of Westminster. The campaign is a third-person cover-based shooter with some twists that took some time getting used to. The first thing was the weapon: Galahad was firing off something called the Arc Induction Lance. It’s essentially a gun that shoots lightning, but to use it, I had to charge it with the R2 button before releasing. The great thing about the arc is that it doesn’t require much aiming so it’s perfect for blind-firing from cover.

When I got into trouble, I could activate Black Sight via L1. It’s basically Bullet Time letting players focus on a target and blast away. Other weapons at Galahad’s disposal included a grenade, which could be tossed at barrels to make them explode. All the weapons could be accessed via the D-pad though that means the number of weapons players could carry are limited and comparable to Gears of War.

While it will inevitably be compared to Microsoft’s franchise, what will separate The Order: 1886 from other shooters is its fiction. Jan, the game director, said, “We wanted to give it enough grounding in realism, but twisting the thing for our world to make sense.” The comparison that was brought up was Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. The film takes place in comparable time period with the fantastical elements such as Nikola Tesla’s duplication device that showed it’s not exactly a historical fiction piece. (Coincidentally enough, The Order also has its own version of Tesla.)

Another movie that inspired the atmosphere of the world was Blade Runner. Jan said that despite the film being set in the future, the Ridley Scott movie had elements that echoed back to older times. Both films mix period piece and sci-fi traits and that’s what The Order:1886 seems to strive for. That magical amalgam of styles is what drives the game’s rich mythology. Jan said the team discovered how important creating an in-depth world was when worked on the God of War series. Those projects also offered other important lessons.

“God of War taught us about the big moments and intense visceral action,” he said. “It also taught us going from Chains of Olympus to Ghost of Sparta about how we tried to go with a more personal narrative.”

Speaking of which, players should expect a story that’s more mature than average fare. Jan didn’t go deep into the plot, but he did say, “We’ve been layering the game with multifaceted characters. Nothing is black and white.” Like Blade Runner, it sounds as though players won’t get any easy answers as they explore the universe of The Order: 1886 and learn about the conflicts and politics among the three factions: the Knights (Galahad’s crew which is based on Arthurian legend), the Rebellion and the Half-Breeds. Ideally like a good flick, Jan said, “I want to make a game where you play it and have a heated conversation about it.”

Players will get to start that discussion when The Order: 1886 is released Feb. 20 on PlayStation 4.

When Sony introduced The Order: 1886 last year, it looked good but didn’t impress me. It wasn’t until E3 2014 that a clearer picture of the game emerged. It was atmospheric and creepy, showing some of the plot and backstory.… Continue Reading →

When Sony introduced The Order: 1886 last year, it looked good but didn’t impress me. It wasn’t until E3 2014 that a clearer picture of the game emerged. It was atmospheric and creepy, showing some of the plot and backstory. In the extended demo I saw, the Ready at Dawn team offered more insight into the title’s development.

Here’s what I learned:

Fighting Lycanthropes is as intense as it looks.

1. THERE’S A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF DETAIL If there’s one common theme to the demo and a point that the developers wanted to emphasize, it was that the team took great pains in creating a convincing Victorian era world. Ready at Dawn used full performance body capture so that they could get every scene right. That way Galahad is shown speaking into the communicator attached to his shoulder as he searches a hospital.

The developers examined facilities of that era and created art assets like detailed anatomical statues of bodies and skeletons that are fully rendered and move if players brush by them. Also if players pay attention to the environment, they can pick up hints about what may come up next. Walking through the hospital, Galahad runs into a gramophone discussing “half-breeds” in the lower depths of the building. Looking through slats of patient rooms, players see deranged people in the sanitorium. If they pay attention, they’ll hear more hints about what’s ahead.

It’s a subtle but smart way to convey atmosphere and plot.

Galahad’s guns have multiple ways to fire, which should help taking down lycanthropes.

2. COMBAT AND CONSEQUENCES ARE FULL OF POSSIBILITIES What I saw over and over again in the demo is all the way Galahad can die. It almost reminded me of the many deaths of Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider reboot. If he doesn’t shoot the werewolf in time, it’ll devour him. If he doesn’t run away fast enough, there’s another gruesome demise. But players shouldn’t worry, the team said it didn’t want the game to be too punishing and that checkpoints are usually placed before moments of potential slaughter.

Ready at Dawn explained that they always wanted the character to do something in this single-player game. When he’s injured, Galahad can take a potion called Black Water to quickly regain health. During a firefight, his guns such as the Essex M2 “Falchion” has two firing modes: one shoots bullets and the other triggers a focused concussion blast.

There are plenty of ways to die if players lack dexterity on the controller.

3. The team is still testing out ideas: The team said it wanted to elevate storytelling. Over the course of the demo, they showed several ways to do this. The developers try to create a believable alternate history world, where players will run into historical figures (such as Nikola Tesla) but they’ll have a twist to them. The fact that Kirk Ellis, the writer who worked on the HBO drama John Adams, is working on the story should help.

In addition, they looked to Europe for most of the acting talent. As The Last of Us showed last year, the people playing the roles are just as important as the lines they’re saying. I couldn’t get a handle on the chemistry between Galahad and the other members of his team, but they did get a sense of suspense right.

Lastly, Ready at Dawn is still working out some storytelling ideas. One of them is to try to use the DualShock 4’s built-in speaker as an outlet for the communicator, a member of the team said. It seemed like a good idea and the limited sound quality on the controller would work with that era’s tech. It could be another way to immerse players in the world of The Order: 1886 when it’s released Feb. 20, 2015, on the PlayStation 4.

After God of War III, I assumed that the series would end. There would be no more stories to tell. Players already knew how the saga ended, and any additional plotlines would be anticlimactic. Besides, how else can anyone top… Continue Reading →

After God of War III, I assumed that the series would end. There would be no more stories to tell. Players already knew how the saga ended, and any additional plotlines would be anticlimactic.

Besides, how else can anyone top Kratos killing both Zeus and Gaia? What else was there to say when a main character single-handedly puts an end to Mount Olympus? But Kratos has a way of surprising people, and in the right hands, he can still be a compelling character even if one knows his ultimate fate.

Taking place between the original and God of War II, this title fills in the blanks between the two PlayStation 2 games. It shows what happens after Kratos defeats Ares and also explains the events leading up to the sequel.

The centerpiece of the game’s story is the Spartan’s relationship with his previously unknown brother, Deimos. Through a series of flashbacks and revelations, players discover why his sibling was taken and who did it. The campaign also shows Kratos at his most vulnerable, a rarity for a character who is known for his unrelenting viciousness and his all-consuming rage. It’s those moments, where players get to see that shred of humanity, that makes the whole play-through worth it.

But breaking down the gameplay, Ghost of Sparta isn’t drastically different from previous versions. Despite not having a second analog stick, the combat is serviceable. (Players hold the triggers and move the analog stick to roll away.) It’s interesting that Ready at Dawn chose to add another meter (This time for the Thera power.) in addition to health and magic, but game designer Dana Jan says he felt God of War III’s Rage of Sparta meter cluttered the screen.

There’s also a few other moves inspired by the big-screen consoles such as a grab, where Kratos uses a poor enemy like a battering ram and some combos with the Thera power. But the biggest addition to the fighting system is the Arms of Sparta, the warrior’s original shield and spear. They work completely different from the Blades of Athena. It has a defensive component that guards against arrows and fire. At the same time, Kratos can attack from behind the shield and toss spears at faraway foes. It’s almost required for some stages, where archers fire away at the Spartan while he tumbles around trying to kill foes. The new move sets are interesting, and I could see it working in another God of War game.

When it comes to level design, the game certainly starts out well with the grand city of Atlantis, but somewhere in the middle, it loses some of its momentum. Kratos goes to Sparta, but the reason isn’t clear and he returns to a now-sinking Atlantis in search of a path to his brother. Thankfully, players have a payoff with an epic final battle.

The emotional impact afterword doesn’t match Ready at Dawn’s first project. I prefer Kratos noble sacrifice of rejecting paradise with his daughter to the heavy guilt surrounding his mother’s and brother’s fates. But nevertheless, the finale and ultimate reveal is satisfying for fans of the series. The Ready at Dawn games have always been good at showing us the source for all of Kratos’ rage and at the same time, the team deepens an already rich God of War lore. Sure, we already know the end of Kratos’ story, but the hidden chapters, especially if they’re done by Ready at Dawn, are well worth checking out.

This post contains some spoilers from early in the game. Ready at Dawn is an underrated studio. Perhaps the team doesn’t get the recognition it deserves because it mostly works on PlayStation Portable titles. Hand-held games almost never get the… Continue Reading →

Ready at Dawn is an underrated studio. Perhaps the team doesn’t get the recognition it deserves because it mostly works on PlayStation Portable titles. Hand-held games almost never get the publicity that big-screen ones do. Nevertheless, they’ve done amazing work on the portable system. They made one of the best God of Wargames with Chains of Olympus and they’re following it up with a second entry into the franchise Ghost of Sparta.

I had a chance to speak with the game director, Dana Jan, about the just-released title and the franchise in general. What I like about his team’s past efforts with the series is that they humanize Kratos a little bit from the giant rage monster he usually is. Chains of Olympus showed what he gave up to save the world, and Ghost of Sparta reveals another family story from the Spartan.

This one involves his brother, Deimos, who has been mentioned before. He’s almost like a shadow lurking around the God of War canon, but now, we get to see him up close. In addition, we also get to see what Kratos had been up to between the original and God of War II. It’s a time in Kratos’ life that interested the developer.

“It seemed to make a lot of sense to fill in that void between God of War One and Two,” Jan said. “He finished off the Ares, became the god of war. He looks completely different between the first God of War and two. What transpired there? He’s in the crazy armor. Where did he get that? They kind of glossed over that.”

But you can’t tell a Kratos story without focusing some of it on his family. Jan says all of Kratos games deal with that subject. He fights his father, Zeus, in the two console sequels. The original dealt with him killing his wife and daughter — another family connection, Jan points out. Of course, Chains of Olympus had that heart-wrenching moment with his daughter in Elysium.

Jan promises more scenes that tug at player’s heart strings and balances out the anger that we’ve come to associate with the Spartan. One of those moments unfolds when he meets his mother, Callisto, and she tells him the truth about his brother. But after revealing her secret, she turns into a monster and Kratos is forced to kill her. He feels guilty about that. “We see that hard facade of him stripped away for a little bit,” Jan said. “It lets people connect with him.”

When I played Ghost of Sparta, I wondered what kind of risks Read at Dawn would take with this sequel. Chains of Olympus created some interesting scenarios such as forcing players to fail in the first fight against Charon. This naturally allowed Kratos to end up in the underworld. I found it remarkable and risky (others found it confusing) because there aren’t many gaming moments where players have to lose in order to advance the story. The studio doesn’t baby players along. They assume they’re adults and can figure things out.

Jan said that in Ghost of Sparta there are a few moves where the team wasn’t sure how gamers would react. One of them was forcing players to walk Kratos through some important story points. “God of War usually doesn’t slow you down to a crawl to kind of tell you a story and walk you through something,” he said. “We were worried if these scenes would be captivating enough to keep player interested and still feel like God of War.”

There are four moments in the game like that, and they do the job. Jan said it’s better than the normal formula for series, which is play, play, play, cutscene. It keeps the players more involved, and I tend to agree.

Another challenging moment is when Kratos fights his mother. Jan said that you can’t beat the boss fight without getting hit by her. Kratos has to be hurt in order for him to defeat her. The same goes for a puzzle, where players are fighting a relentless pack of dogs. Players have to let the canines bite Kratos so that the Spartan can toss them into a grinder. If players don’t do this, they can be fighting the respawning dogs forever.

“We tried to throw a puzzle in every game that the outcome of it isn’t what you expected,” Jan said. “Everyone assumes that when you get into a Kratos puzzle you’re going to push something, carry a body or smash something with your blades.”

Lastly, I asked him if there are any more stories that Ready at Dawn could tell with Kratos. The guy has been through a lot over the past five years. He’s been tortured in numerous ways and has accomplished some monumental tasks. Where else could they take him?

Jan said he thinks there’s room for more tales. “One of the things I’m intrigued by personally is the story we see in flashbacks. They touched on it in God of War and a little bit in God of War II. It’s kind of his ascension to being right underneath Ares as far as the Spartan army is concerned. Being on the battlefield and having the barbarian king almost kill him. There’s definitely a back story to Kratos that nobody’s touched on. It’s been done in movies and we’re familiar with it because we talked about it games. That period of time is what I’m interested in.”

Other tidbits from the interview:

Speaking of the God of War timeline, he mentions that the first time Deimos was hinted at was during the Chains of Olympus finale. Helios is talking to Athena and says, “Do you think that they’ll survive?” and Athena says “They must.” That line was purposefully put in the game. There are also other mentions of Deimos in God of War III but this is the earliest.

Kratos and Deimos aren’t twins. Kratos’ father is Zeus of course. Meanwhile, Deimos’ father is more of a mystery. They share the same mother though.

Jan says the correct chronology for playing the series in order goes like this: Chains of Olympus, God of War, Ghost of Sparta, God of War II, God of War III. He doesn’t know where the cell phone game fits into it.

Ghost of Sparta took 23 months to make. Similar to the development time of Chains of Olympus.

The reason that the buttons prompts aren’t colored in the Ghost of Sparta quicktime games is that it’s one of the requirements for PSP titles. The production rule goes like this: Any button prompts in a game has to be the same color as the face buttons on the PSP, which are clear and white. I have no explanation why that is, but it is certainly weird if you’re making a PSP game.

Ready at Dawn put in the treasures late into the development. They didn’t know about it until God of War III was essentially done, and they thought it was a great idea for people who played through the game again.

Santa Monica Studios has always wanted to do Atlantis for a while but they couldn’t fit it in the franchise’s storyline. Ready at Dawn took a look at some of the old concept art and decided that they could add the mythical island to its game. Jan said it adds a concreteness to Ghost of Sparta. People are more familiar with the concept of Atlantis than say Attica.

A guy named Dominus makes an appearance in the game. For those of you not in the know, Dominus was the original name for Kratos’ character in God of War and the scene featuring a soldier named Dominus was a nod to that, according to Jan.